Moxie

Moxie
March 17, 1993 – February 4, 2009
AKA Moxie Muffin, Miss Mushie, Comrade Mushkin, General Mushmananov

Moxie was a simple cat. She had one mission and that was to LOVE. But she didn’t love just anyone — you had to be part of an exclusive club, a FOM (Friend of Moxie).

She came into our lives when she was eight. Mommy wanted a cat and we went to Pets Unlimited. We met Moxie and they immediately bonded. The next few years were filled with much snuggling between Mom and Moxie who would have nothing to do with anyone else. Whenever I would come over, she would hide under the bed.

A few years ago, Mom moved and couldn’t take Moxie with her. So she came to live with us. She was so very shy and was overwhelmed by a big house, two people and a new kitty friend, Wilson. She decided to spend almost a week under the office floor as a way to adjust to her new surroundings. She finally committed to her new home and she flourished. She made new friends and spent her days in the sun (when she wasn’t hiding in the closet from the housekeepers or the construction workers). Her favorite place in the whole world was curled up next to (or on) me or Larry. Her next favorite spot was hanging out on the spiral staircase in the sunshine.

She was a bit wary of the small child who chased after her and yelled in her face. She and Wilson shared my affection and would alternate between fighting, snuggling, and ignoring each other.

Today it was clear that Moxie was unhappy and she was no longer going to fulfill her mission — to personify love. Moxie loved us and exerted her peronality to the end and we are grateful we had the opportunity to bask in her glow.

Larry made a nice dinner. I’ve had a few glasses of wine. There is no ice cream in the house. I’m hugging Larry, Walker, and Wilson. She is with Mommy and that, more than anything, makes me feel more connected to them both.

It’s hard enough to lose a pet but Moxie was Mommy’s cat. I have a lot of baggage around this so this ordeal has been particularly difficult. I’ve been joking that I have so much baggage I need a Bell Hop to deal with it all. With all of this drama, it makes me appreciate all my family, friends, and colleagues so much more. Thanks to you all.

The Little Man continues to surprise us. On Monday, he was doing gymnastics at Day Care and usually, Sofia says to him “You did it!” and claps. On Monday she was distracted. He went up to her and tugs at her shirt and says, “I DID it!”. How cool is that? He’s a little boy with communication skills. He’s also straddling the arm of Daddy’s chair and riding it like a pony while singing “Dum de dum dumm, Dum de de dumm dumm.”

It’s all the cycle of life. I didn’t understand it like I do now.

I have a big mushy center. Don’t tell anyone. I’m going to go find some chocolate and watch LOST. Oh, and drink some more wine.

 

Who needs a new diaper?

“I do!”

Apparently Walker is really talking now. He’s not just saying words when he sees something he recognizes. He’s actually having conversations. He was playing… and I could tell he was filling his diaper. It wasn’t just that he stopped and bent over a bit but I also got a whiff. “Who needs a diaper change?” I asked. To my surprise, Walker raised his little hand and said loudly, “I do!”

No kidding.

Larry and I have spent the weekend asking him questions in the hope that he says, “I do!” It’s just too darn cute. He’s also started straddling the chair arm and riding it like a horse and singing “Dum de dum dum. Dum dee dee dumm dumm.” Oh, and he’s putting words together. He waved and said “Bye Bye Da da” when we went off to Sofiya’s on Friday. Good weekend.

Yesterday was a long day. We took a day trip to Santa Rosa and visited the Charles M. Schultz Museum. It was one of those infrequent intersections of Larry / Mimi passions. I’m a big fan of the Peanuts and, of course, Larry is a space geek. It’s the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 10 mission (I was born right in the middle of it) and the ships were nicknamed “Snoopy” and “Charlie Brown.” The museum has an exhibit celebrating the mission and Snoopy’s support of NASA’s space program and yesterday was opening day. Two of the Apollo 10 astronauts were there to kick it off. Walker and I bumped into Gene Cernan, Apollo 10 astronaut and last man on the moon. Very cool. He’s a well-dressed man.

It’s also cool that one of our friends collects space artifacts and he loaned them to the museum for the exhibit — pieces of the actual NASA Mission Control panels and a page from a flown Flight Manual signed by Buzz Aldrin (with an associated letter showing provenance). Walker had a great time and we took lots and lots of photos of him in his Charlie Brown shirt.

I also had to bring my Snoopy for the festivities. He’s 32 years old and has been through a lot. He even went into surgery with me when I got my tonsils out. The doctors were so impressed he was wearing his surgeon’s scrubs that they let me have him until I couldn’t count backwards any more.

The little man has also decided he knows the best way to show affection. He gives lots and lots of kisses… but everyone does that. He’s decided he’s going to bite my nose. (Did I mention he’s got 18 teeth now? His canines are in now so he’s just missing just his last four molars.) When he’s really feeling punchy after a bath, he opens wide and leans in. He goes in for the bite. Chomp! He locks on to my nose and giggles and giggles. Periodically he decides to mix it up and he dodges to one side. Mouth wide, he gets a vacuum on my cheek and blows making farty noises. He’s such a boy.

He’s also learned a new page in his “Big and Little” book. Not only does he read the pages that say “ooops,” “uh oh” and he hides his eyes on the “I can’t look” pages, but now he very clearly says, “Oh My!” I’ll tell you I was more than shocked when he did it the first time. He’s trying to read the “Splash” and “Tah Da!” pages. He kinda voices the inflection rather than the words. He does this with “thank you” as well. Larry and I are the only ones who can tell that’s what he’s saying but as far as I’m concerned, it counts.

Global warming is a terrible thing but we’re trying to enjoy the by-product — a warm and clear winter making for lots of fun on the beach and incredible sunsets.

Walker thinks he’s a big person. He’s very into shoes. He has me put his shoes on over his jammies on the weekend as soon as he gets up. He often likes to put on my sneakers. But it’s really funny when he tries to put on my boots or even funnier when he goes into his Daddy’s closet and finds all the wonders in there. He especially likes the white patent leather Storm Trooper boots. We thankfully caught a photo of him working hard to walk down the hall. (Note: This picture is a few weeks old. He’s still not asking for his pacifier so we’re hoping all future photos will show his cute little mouth.)

 

Astonished

On Thursday nights, Larry attends a writing group so Walker and I have some quality time together. However, this Thursday, we were both tired and a bit cranky. I planned to get home, turn on Sprout, eat a snack and sit together on the couch and sulk. But Walker had other ideas. While I folded laundry, he played with his toys and became very interested in his socks. He kept taking them off and trying to put them back on himself. As I folded all his clean socks, he took them and put them in a pile. When it was time for bath, I told Walker I needed to put his clothes away. He wouldn’t let me take his socks so I told him, “OK. Why don’t you bring your socks into your room?” He tried to pick up the ten pairs of socks. There were too many. So I watched him look around and zero in on this bus toy that has an open top. He picked up the bus, put it next to his sock pile, and lovingly place all the socks into vehicle. He picked it up and carried it into his room. Job done. I was amazed at his problem solving skills and whatever crankiness that I once felt, instantly melted away.

Walker had a great bath and he crawled into bed. We read his favorite book, BIG AND LITTLE, and he read the words he knows at the right time — “Oooops” and “Uh-oh”. Then we got to the page that says “Oh my!” I read the page and I heard a little voice clearly say “Oh my!”. Again. Astonished.

He’s really growing up. He’s talking. He’s problem solving. He has a sense of humor.

And now it’s time for some gratuitous Walker photos from an excursion to the Beach in his new Pea Coat — a gift from Grammie Shirley.

Walker is now Pacifier-free. No more photos of him with a big ol’ plug in the center of his face. Three weeks ago, the poor little guy got a nasty virus called Hand, Foot, and Mouth. It’s apparently very common (because it’s very contagious) but it’s not one of those things the books warn you about. Yes, I heard all about the colds, the ear aches, the diaper rashes, the teething but no one told me about the extremely common virus that gives your kid blisters on his hands, feet and in his mouth. So, for those of you who don’t know about it, consider yourself informed.

On Friday afternoon, Sofiya called and said Walker had a high fever and I should pick him up. When I arrived, he was logy and glowing red hot. A dose of Motrin and 45 minutes later, Walker was running around and laughing. He ate bread and went to bed as normal. He awoke once screaming and holding his tummy. We thought he was constipated so we gave him a laxative and put him back to bed. Saturday he woke up happy and played all day. In the afternoon, he had a mild fever and was drooling a lot. He wouldn’t really suck on the pacifier but he’d keep it in his mouth. We thought perhaps the canines that were coming in were causing more discomfort than usual. I noticed he had some red spots on his tongue but thought it was due to something he ate. Then came bedtime. He wasn’t unhappy but he wouldn’t go to bed. He played. And played. And played. He was up until 11pm. He wouldn’t take his pacifier (he threw it across the room) and finally fell asleep eating a cracker. I pried the food from his little hand, breathed a sigh of relief and played a few games of Solitaire. I finally went to sleep and at 12am, Walker awoke screaming. As he screamed, I noticed he had some white spots on his tongue. I calmly consulted my Dr. Sears BABY BOOK (which I consider the best user’s manual for small humans) and saw that he probably had this Hand, Foot, and Mouth virus. It’s extremely painful but not serious and there’s no treatment other than Motrin. So we figured a trip to the ER was unnecessary. Poor little Walker screamed himself into unconsciousness each time he awoke which happened to be every hour.

The next morning, when we went to the clinic, the doctor confirmed our diagnosis. But despite the night we had and what should be a horribly painful virus, Walker was chipper and energetic. He ate normally and drank a lot out of a straw-less sippy cup. You’d never have known he was sick. But he wouldn’t take his pacifier. I thought we’d seize this opportunity to permanently break his dependence on them. The real test was when he returned to Day Care on Tuesday. If he wanted one, we told Sofiya he could have it. But despite the fact there are a bunch of other kids with them, he didn’t ask for one. It’s been two weeks since his last pacifier and he doesn’t seem to miss them. It does take him a lot longer to get to sleep now and I’ve been tempted to pull them out but I look at him and if he has the will to resist, so do I.

Throughout this entire ordeal, I was astonished at his strength through what was certainly painful and scary and his strength to ignore something that gave him such comfort and pleasure. They say kids’ personalities are evident when they’re babies and if he continues down the current trajectory, I am certain Walker will do just fine.

I’ve been remiss in posting some photos so here are a few from Christmas. Doesn’t Walker look like a gansta with his new cap?

 

Artist

Walker is very interested in drawing. Larry put up a whiteboard in our bedroom and you can see he LOVES it. However, he also loves the closet doors. He’s very advanced — he drew a heart which you can see if you look very closely at the center of the closet doors.

He’s not kept the drawing to the walls. Last night he brought a crayon into the bath and drew a very nice magenta picture on the white walls of the bath. Larry will have him working on comic layouts soon.

 

Too long to remember

It’s been so long I can’t remember the last time I posted. We’ve been terribly busy with travel, holidays, Internet connectivity issues, work, pet illnesses, and crazy childhood viruses. I’ve had a post drafted for a long time and had been waiting to post it until I had a chance to add in some photo links but I just haven’t had the time. I have finally decided I can’t wait any longer so bear with me as I write a long post with few photos.

But before you read the stories, Walker went for his 18 month doctor visit and here are his stats:

• Height: 32″ (50%)
• Weight: 24lbs 9oz (25%)
• Head: 48cm (50%)

Photos can be found on my Flickr page (click here) >

But here are a few that are kinda awesome

And I wonder which one is actually, Happy, the Baby New Year from the holiday show “Rudolf’s Shiny New Year”

Bonk
When last I wrote, we were heading off to Florida. We had a wonderful time visiting Gigi and spending some time in sunny, warm weather. However, as with any travel, it was not without some small amount of drama. On our way out, we were unable to get a direct flight from SFO to MIA so we made a quick connection through LAX. I had conveniently scheduled the flights during naptime so as to make the travel relatively painless on the little man (and by extension, his parents). I also considered myself quite smart as LAX doesn’t have terrible delays due to weather and the recent set of storms was just starting in the Midwest and flights were beginning to back up. When we arrived in LA, we saw our flight was delayed 20 minutes so we went and got some supplies for the flight. We checked the flight again and notice dthe gate has changed. We packed up and headed to the new gate and looked again to find the flight delayed FOUR HOURS. Apparently there was a flight headed to Tokyo that had a fuel leak and had to make an emergency landing in LA. They gave our 777 to them and we had to wait a few hours while another 777 flew in from London. The airline was very nice and gave us some food vouchers so we had a leisurely lunch while our fellow passengers discussed their connections to South American destinations – only to find most of them would have to spend the night in Miami. Urgh. Walker was having a wonderful time playing with all the waiting passengers and running around. He was well past his naptime but was not interested in closing his eyes for one moment which brings me to the title of this section. He was tired. He was active. And his coordination was, let’s say, not at its peak performance. He fell. And fell. And fell. He bonked his head many times on the floor, the walls, Daddy’s knee, the seats, and the ticket counter. After one particularly impressive spill, I went to get him a cup of ice from Starbucks and while we were able to avoid a huge bruise, he spent more time eating the ice than using it to heal his swelling bumps.

He didn’t sleep much on the plane to MIA and we arrived well past his bedtime. He dozed a bit but didn’t get to sleep until after 1am Eastern. He awoke around 9 and was so excited to see Gigi and all the new stuff he wasn’t too interested in a nap – either in the morning or the afternoon. As a result, we experienced our first serious Toddler meltdown in the middle of Target. When presented with something he didn’t want to do (which was apparently anything),Walker would simply scream his little head off, accompanied by the alternating back arching and turning into a noodle. Fun times. It wasn’t until the next day when the alien that took over our sweet baby left and Walker once again was the charming little angel we all know and love. Oh, and did I mention he took two, 2+ hour naps? Both times, Walker spent the second hour of the nap curled up on me. Pure bliss I tell you.

Gigi has a beautiful apartment filled with many sculptures and mementos from trips around the world. In preparation of the King’s visit, she removed all the tempting items from sight and covered the furniture with sheets so no one would worry about an “icky sticky” boy getting stains on anything or general breakage of precious objects. The moment Walker awoke, he went into the living room, ignored the toys he had waiting for him, made a beeline to the one thing that wasn’t stored away – a brass and glass 40 year old Turkish shoe shine kit. Walker thought the brass covers to the polish bottles were nifty to stack, organize, and throw. After about a day of playing with it, we decided to find someplace to hide it, but then only after we were able to locate all the brass tops which had somehow made their way to all corners of the apartment.

And, of course there were new developments as well. Walker began to lie on his tummy and color with his crayons like a big boy. He also decided hiding behind doors was fun. One morning he chose to eat his rice cakes behind the bathroom door. So I slid a cake through the crack in the door and he happily munched away.

Teeth.
It seems Walker is always teething. Now it’s those four canine teeth. One has already made its debut and is almost half-way in. The other three are all coming in together making Walker a tad grumpy. And as always, the teething impacts his sleeping. He’s been waking up in the middle of the night yelling. The first time, I didn’t know what he wanted. He finally got out of bed and walked me to the kitchen. He was hungry and pointed to his cinnamon bread. I gave him a piece and he munched on it but was still whimpery and upset. He kept pointing at the counter and when I couldn’t figure out what he wanted, the crying escalated. I picked him up and handed him a few things. There was violent head shaking. On my third try, I handed him the Motrin dropper and he sucked away on it. I gave him some medicine and he was THRILLED. He finished the bread and went to sleep. Now, when he wakes, I’m a bit more clear on what he wants.

Mine.
Which brings me to the next terribly amazing development. Walker has found Language. Not just the language of pointing and shaking his head which has gotten him along very well up to now thank you very much, but now he has real, talking language. First, he’s very clear on what we’re saying. About two weeks ago, I was getting ready for work and Walker clearly wanted something. We were in the back of the house and I said to him, “Walker, your water is on the chair.” He looked at me and walked out of the room. Moments later, he arrived with his cup of water. He understood that I told him his cup was sitting on the chair in the kitchen and he acted on it. How amazing! He’s been selectively hearing me ever since!

Secondly, he’s found his own words. Overnight he’s started talking, in words we understand, and each day there’s a new one. It’s so fantastic that it’s been over the holiday break so I can hear all the new words. He’s saying words like Mama, Daddie, yeah, wow, uh-oh, no, train, moo, baa, go, wa (water), up, down, ball, ssssssssshhhhhhhh, and my two favorite toddler essential words – Barney (he really, really likes that big purple dinosaur) and MINE. The last one he uses the most because, well, apparently everything is his. I’m certain he learned the word from the big kids at Sofiya’s because before he could say it, he acted as if it was true. I’ve been spending a bit more time dropping him off in the morning and I notice he likes to take the toys the other kids are playing with. “Walker, it’s MIIIIIIIIIINE,” they say. Undeterred, he takes it and plays with it for a few minutes until he’s bored and steals someone else’s toy. So, I’m guessing he picked it up there. Probably not the last thing he’ll learn from bigger kids at school. (NOTE: I must say, this was written two weeks ago and the number of words has increased significantly. It’s really fun to try to figure out what he’s saying.)

Incidentals.
Christmas was very fun. We started the season off by cutting down the tree at Santa’s Tree Farm in Half Moon Bay. Walker helped pick it out and was so happy to run around between the trees. This year, he was not into Santa. There was a teenager Santa at the zoo and Walker kept his distance. At the tree farm there was a great Santa and thought it would be the least stressful photo opportunity. The photo really tells it all.

Christmas Eve was wonderful. Larry and I had our first long-duration date since my birthday in May. We dropped Walker off at Sofiya’s and we went for a leisurely breakfast, saw a movie, did some errands, and went to the new Academy of Science (which was a ZOO – do NOT go during the holiday unless you absolutely have to). We then picked up Walker and headed to Grammie Jane’s house where we had the traditional Christmas Eve Cioppino. Walker’s teething was terrible that night and he awoke a few times during dinner and was up and down all night. (It was the night I described with the bread and the Motrin. Merry Christmas!) PopPop stayed over night with Bart, and in the morning we had the traditional pancake, gingerbread and fruit breakfast with Uncle Thayer and our Hollywood friends Anita and Jared. Despite getting up at 6am, we didn’t open presents until 11:30am. I’m sure that will be the last lazy Christmas morning for many years to come.

I got two very thoughtful gifts from the men in my life. My father gave me the gift of time by making me a big beef stew I could freeze and use when I don’t have time to make dinner. My husband and son made me a sweatshirt that says on the back, “mommy deserves a pat on the back” with two little Walker handprints. I cried when I got it and wore it for a few days until it was too icky to continue to wear.

We’re spending our time watching too much Sprout TV, having fun with friends, and cleaning up the house. Walker and the cats are really starting to bond. Wilson now sleeps curled up next to him and Moxie is spending much more time near him – when he’s quietly sleeping. He pets them a lot and I believe will soon be saying “gentle” since he hears it so frequently.
Our Internet connection has been intermittent making it difficult to post to the blog, answer email, do paperwork, or get information, but it’s been fun remembering what life was like before we had instant access to, well, everything.

 

Happy New Year Folks

We’ve been having some DSL connection issues so I’ve not been able to post but I couldn’t let 2008 slip past without one last post. This video encapsulates everything I loved about 2008 and wish for more of in 2009.

 

I’m Old

Walker pretends to be a peacock at the zoo.

Clearly I’m old. I think I’ve pondered this publicly before, but I’m feeling old today. This week was extremely busy. The Adobe Sales and Marketing Conference was in San Jose this week and I traveled the 52 miles each way all week. Events started between 8:30 and 9 each day and ended a varying times in the evening with one night ending at 10:30 (although many of my colleagues remained festive for many more hours). Twice in my life I’ve commuted daily to Silicon Valley and while tiring, it was not a big deal. But I guess I’m old now and it was draining. Ok, perhaps a contributing factor was the 5 am Walker wake-up call or the three presentations I had to do on Digital Marketing and Social Media or the fact that Moxie is peeing on everything we own because she isn’t getting enough thyroid medicine. But nonetheless, here I sit thinking how a younger me would be ready to go out and see a movie. (And you thought I was going to say, “go out on the town.” That was never really my thing. A movie was about as CRAZY as I got.)

And there is one small story bomb from the last paragraph. Of course, the week I’m totally crazy and traveling and having to give a presentation to 250 people, my 15.75 year old kittie gets sick. She’s peeing on EVERYTHING from the bed to the floor to the rug. Anywhere BUT her box. And she’s vomiting as well. So Larry is a wonderful man and says he’ll take her to the vet. On Monday, before I leave, I arrange to have her visit her doctor at 9:30. At 9:15 (a bit later than I know Larry would have liked), Larry drives to the vet. He barely misses a jogger who ran out in front of the car as he rolls through a stop sign three blocks from the house. RIGHT IN FRONT OF A COP. The blue lights turn on and Larry stops and rolls down the window as the cop asks him for his ID. “Hi. I’m late taking my wife’s DEAD MOTHER’S SICK CAT to the vet.” The cop just looks at him. “OK. Just be safe, Man,” the cop replies. Clearly he didn’t want to deal with Moxie (who had peed and vomited in her box in the back seat) even more than Larry. Good news, it’s nothing major. Just a bit more medicine for the Princess and she’s feeling much better.

This week did have a Walker moment. On Monday, I was getting ready to head down to SJ and Walker was munching on some bread. We were in the back of the house and I could tell, he wanted some milk. I looked at him and said, “Walker, your milk is on the chair.” He looked back at me, ran down the hall and returned sucking down his milk. Now, I didn’t tell him which chair or point toward the kitchen. He just knew what I meant and he followed my instructions. This is notable because he’s still chatting away in his own language and selectively pays attention to me. So, when there’s a moment when it’s very clear he knows what I’m saying and acts on it, it makes me feel like we have a deeper connection.

Last weekend we realized Walker was getting to look a bit like a mop top and we thought it was time to get a trim. We took him to Harry, the neighborhood barber who has been giving Larry a #1 all around for the last 9 years. We weren’t sure how Walker was going to take to a big boy barber but he stuck it out like a trooper. Harry used both scissors and the buzzer. No tears were shed.

A few weeks ago, I signed the contracts to put solar panels on our roof so we cut our electric bill to almost $0. I can’t believe we are going to make such a significant “go green” commitment but we do need a new roof and we figured that while we were at it, we might as well try to reduce the environmental impact of our existence (which is good since I did do an awful lot of driving this week.) The solar was actually the easy decision. We’re still getting quotes and deciding on the new roof. Who knew there were so many roofing options for a “low slope” roof in the Sunset. Ugh. I know way more about modified bitumen and tar and gravel than I ever wanted to know. And golly, I learned that it’s probably a good idea to have folks do maintenance on your roof once every 7 years or so. Hmmm. Good to know. Oh, and of course, we have to take a few years off the life of anything we have because we live out at the beach. Our fantastic location was the reason we needed new break pads, “Was this car driven a lot in the snow?” was the question the two different garages asked us. “No, we live at Ocean Beach.” They both nodded and muttered, “Of course.” So, it appears that roofs, skylights, gutters, and other parts of our house have more limited life spans as well. I’ll just have to update the financial models in light of this new information. And if you think I HAVE financial models, you give me too much credit.

We’ve found Walker enjoys wicker. He loves to sit in the wicker clothes basket. And now he loves to walk around with the wicker trash basket on his head. We like to call him Wicker Robot. He’s able to navigate surprisingly well in this get up. He rarely bumps into walls and he’s logged quite a bit of time as a robot so he’s had ample opportunity for bumps and bruises.

Speaking of bumps and bruises, Walker is very interested in spending time on his head. When he’s not trying to climb up on the practical baskets that are supposed to help keep the house a tad tidier than it is normally after Toddler Bomb explodes, he bends over and puts his head on the floor. I figured out he’s trying to do a somersault. You see, Alex, his gym teacher (yes, he has a gym teacher), absolutely ADORES him. He’s always trying to teach him something new. Walker spends each day trying to figure out how to get some air when he jumps — he’s got the bending and extending down but his two little feet just stay affixed to the ground. I’ve GOT to get some video because it is HILARIOUS and often attempted in the morning or during some dancing insanity. Anyway, I’ve decided to help him out and grab his ankles and complete the move. He’s quite appreciative and laughs and laughs and laughs.

I’m enjoying William Shatner’s new talk show. I’m preparing to move the troops to visit Gigi.

 

Yak is not just a zoo animal

OK. I’ve been remiss in posting but golly, the holidays are fraught with time-sucking activities — especially for those of us who are prone to trying to do ONE MORE THING. The only reason I’m able to find the time now is because Walker has decided that waking before 5am is the newest hip thing to do as a Toddler. This week I’ve been able to balance the checkbooks which had been woefully ignored (which makes me crazy), do some cleaning, and watch a lot of PBS Sprout “Sunny Side Up” show. Walker’s favorite show is Barney.

So much has happened in the last few weeks. The week before Thanksgiving we had our first baby stomach flu — complete with vomiting. I had been fearing Walker’s first barf. I wasn’t sure what I would do or how he would react. I’m way over it now. I had to pick him up from Sofiya’s early on a Friday afternoon after he had tossed his cookies three times. Along with the baby, I brought home three big bags of laundry because Sofiya’s dryer was on the fritz. Walker was in surprisingly good spirits and showed no signs of being sick through Saturday so we did errands and he ate like normal. All until Saturday evening when he was taking a small break and sitting with me on the couch. He coughed but it wasn’t a regular cough. He looked at me and BAAAAAARRRRFFF. He was scared and my first reaction was to catch it as it spewed forth. After cleaning everyone and everything up, we got ready for bed. Walker fell asleep quickly and about 30 minutes later, he starts to cry and we go in to find him sitting in his crib with yak all over. He looks up at us and yaks twice more. Sunday was a quiet day (not including the six operatic vomit-fests poor Larry experienced). Walker and I sat on the couch and dozed off and on. That’s when we watched The Jungle Book and found the benefits of PBS Sprout. (I wasn’t 100% but thank goodness I wasn’t incapacitated like my boys.)

Monday folks were on the mend. Walker felt fine despite explosive diarrhea. Larry wasn’t throwing up but still felt lousy. Walker didn’t go to Day Care because he apparently gave the gift of yak to Sofyia’s helper, Masha. That was not the birthday gift she would have hoped for. (She did appreciate the flowers we gave her a few days later.) We thought we’d make sure he was pooping a bit more regularly before we sent him to play with the other kids.

Walker came to work with me (and was a big hit). My co-workers are fantastic. All of them came out to play with Walker. He had SOOO much fun. We did a few errands and then I dropped Walker off at home for Larry to watch him while I went to the craziest jury duty I’ve ever experienced.

I arrive at civil court jury duty room. The judge comes down and swears in all 200 potential jurors. “OK. That’s not good,” I thought. And I was right. He had a personal injury case that would last 2-3 months. I successfully petitioned to get off that case. Then I got on a case that was apparently a relationship gone bad and the boyfriend didn’t move out so the girlfriend was trying to evict him for not paying rent. The boyfriend was representing himself and the whole situation was a circus. During jury selection, the boyfriend first asked us our opinion of rental law (not allowed), then tried to tell us about rental law (not allowed), then asked questions like these — “in a tenant/landlord relationship, do you believe the landlord is the LORD?” “Do you believe someone should be evicted for not paying rent?” and the kicker… “Do you think I should be evicted?” The judge laughed at the last one and told him he could ask the question though he thought it a bit premature. The entire experience, while very humorous, made me a tad anxious as I had many things I could be doing (but I did get a lot farther on my current knitting project). Larry powered through the afternoon and the boys had fun.

I’m running out of power and it’s time to fix Walker breakfast #2 this morning. I’ll catch up again more shortly.

 

Best Husband Ever

I’m a big fan of learning. I love learning new things. However, some things I’d just like to hear about rather than experience.

This morning, ready to face a busy and challenging day, I headed out the door. Today was different than other days. Larry and I had coordinated Walker transportation — I’d take him and Larry would pick him up as I’m presenting recommendations for off-shoring web development to India for some Adobe products. Excited about what the day would bring, we approached the little grey Scion XA and Larry noticed both curb-side tires were flat. Now, not flat, but FLAT. And this is a problem because I’d needed my car to go to work and Larry needed his car to pick up the Little Man. The Scion is also blocking the driveway. Larry immediately taked charge and moved the Scion back and told me to take the Honda to work. “I’ll take care of it,” he said, with authority. I handed him our AAA card. He looked at me with amusement.

As I blithely went off to work, Larry got busy going to Kragan to purchase an air compressor. Larry conducted a test to see if we had leaks or if it was someone just releasing the air (wishful thinking). It only took 30 minutes for the recently fully inflated tires to become FLAT. So we all know we do what we do best and Larry called me to figure out where to take iPod Jack (the name of our Scion) to get the tires fixed. As the places I usually go are across the city and the tires won’t make it that far, we consulted Yelp and find Paul’s Battery and Tire Company at Geary and 10th (which is about 5 miles away from the house). Larry pumped up the tires again and took the car to get it fixed. It is going to take a few hours to repair the tires and Larry isn’t dressed to wait in the cold fog. He purchased a new vest (which is better than the alternative which was also considered — renting a hotel room near the garage. Larry goes home for a few moments and in a short time is able to use Facebook to connect with a Hollywood friend who likes Astronauts in Trouble (yay!). I chatted with Larry and I asked him what he wants for dinner since he should have anything he wants since he’s spending the day to deal with FLAT tires. “Nothing in particular,” he responds.

Larry slogged back to Paul’s to pick up the car (now costing $200+vest+compressor) and pick up Walker, allowing me to present a strategy for off-shoring marketing to India (the presentation went well, thank you). I arrived home to a clean car with two new tires. The guy from Paul’s tells us something only a tire guy would know — between Halloween and Thanksgiving, there’s a prejudice against black cars (our dark grey car looks black at night). Neighborhood punks decide to futz with black cars. This year they punctured my tires with a Phillips head screwdriver. Last year they stole my Scion logo. We’re two-for-two. So, while interesting that there’s some random car hatred associated with color and dates on a calendar, I would have preferred to learn that in a random conversational snippet than through experience — paying $300+ for tires, transportation, vests, and elaborate dinners.

Did I mention that Best Husband Ever decided he did (after all) want Good Dinner as a reward for the harrowing day and after Little Dude went to bed, we had Dungeness Crab and white wine? And as I write this, he’s doing dishes.

Best Husband Ever.

 

Surfing

Daddy loves Photoshop

Walker is trying out the basic surfing techniques -- matching the outfit with the board.

Mommy is tired tonight but can’t let the week go by without a post. (Gigi just got her computer set up and we couldn’t chat on Skype ‘cuz Walker was either eating or napping.) Walker has started saying something over and over but we can’t figure out what it means. “Ummmm… Ahh-DEE!” It’s not one of us, his binky, Bunny Foo Foo or any kind of food. We’ll be trying to figure it out this week. Could be Russian, who knows.

It was unusually fantastic this weekend so we’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

Saturday we took a walk…

and later that day, we hung out at the beach and bumped into Uncle Thayer…